The present invention relates to a safety system, and more particularly, to an improved system for the safety of purebred animals, and particularly, purebred horses in case of a sudden stable fire.
A problem of saving lives of horses if a fire happened in a stable is a serious one. As reported in "The Baltimore Sun" and "USA Today" on Aug. 1, 1995, a "fire engulfed a barn at Ellis Park race track in Henderson, Ky., killed as many as twenty five thoroughbreds". Unfortunately, this is not the only tragic fire taking away lives of animals. The problem has been recognized, and some measures (sprinklers, rewiring, etc.) have been undertaken; however, long felt and unsolved need for a solution to this problem still remains in the field.
Typically, a stable includes several horse stalls. If the fire happened at least in one stall, doors of all stalls should be immediately opened in order to release the horses. Unfortunately, there is a certain time delay between the fire happening and a personnel to realize the fire and to undertake actions for releasing the horses.
A mechanism for automatically releasing horses by the electric fire-alarm impulse is described in U.S. Pat. No. 406,629 (patented on Jul. 9, 1889). This mechanism does not, however, employ state-of-the-art detection and controlling systems, therefore, a certain time delay may be experienced in responding of the door actuating mechanism to the abnormal conditions in the stable.
Control systems are known which automatically release doors in garages or buildings, such as hotels or offices, in response to abnormal inside conditions, such as a dangerous level of smoke or fire, etc., detected by detectors. People alerted by alarm can immediately leave buildings. These systems are disclosed, for instance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,040,143; 4,338,526; 4,365,250; 4,464,651; 4,539,555; 5,044,680 and 5,140,173.
None of the above-described safety systems are known to be employed in stables. Disadvantageously, even if employed, these control systems will not eliminate completely the problems of saving horse's lives once the fire happened. The thing is, as a sequence of a horse's behavior pattern in a fire situation, the animal may respond to the fire by "hiding" in its stall even if the door of the stall is open, thereby making the control systems of the prior art useless for the situation in question.
Therefore, a fire in horse stables is of a serious concern, for horses' owners, racetracks, horse farms, insurance companies insuring horses, and the like.
It would be highly desirable to provide a safety system for a horse stable which would be efficient in solving the problem of saving horses lives in the event of a sudden fire in the stable.